The hero's situation is not unlike that of the unfortunate young man his father confined in a psychiatric hospital in Georges Franju 's "la tête contre les murs" (1959) , but it's given another treatment which is best depicted as "neo nouvelle vague meets Bresson ", a masterpiece or a big bore ,depending on which side you're on ;at the time ,the movie was highly praised by the (esssentially leftist ) critics ,and Benoit Jacquot was hailed as a director opening new horizons using the theories of Lacan .
The well-read dialog is so sophisticated that the excellent actors (Georges Marchal,Brigitte Fossey ) have rather self-conscious manners ;as for Lou Castel ,a committed actor close to the Italian communist party ,he is dubbed in French in a namby-pamby voice .
The hero's sister calls her husband by his surname and they sleep apart ;himself is broke,but does not refuse the (dirty?)money his sibling brings ;father's and hubby's business is thriving : they are supposedly helping poor people from Africa to come to their wealthy country (disguised slavery?)Of course,theres' the obligatory flashback who shows the blood ties (made with a swordstick which plays a prominent part in the story) and the brother's "crime" .
The sister (whose relationship with her brother is rather ambiguous)drives him to Laure who's supposed to study but is living off the largesse of her bourgeois parents who work abroad;this affair is totally devoid of interest with lines such as " I do not know if I smoke but I'm gonna buy cigarettes " or " there're no cigarettes;they're on strike" what do you suppose that politically means?
If you want to spend 105 minutes watching people contemplate their navel,it's up to you.
